Race & ethnicity

GS 138: Introduction to Sociology

1

 How is race “socially constructed” in
society?
 What is the difference between
prejudice and discrimination?
 What evidence is there that race
relations are improving in the society?

2

 Race and Ethnicity
 Prejudice
 Discrimination
 Sociological Perspectives on Race
and Ethnic Relations
 Racial and Ethnic Groups in the
United States
 2010 Census and its Definitions of
Race
3

 Some people view race as:
• Skin color: the Caucasian “race”,
• Religion: the Jewish “race”
• Nationality: the British “race”
• Entire human species: the human “race”
 Sociological definition of race:
“A category of people who have been singled out
as inferior or superior, often on the basis of real
or alleged physical characteristics such as skin
color, hair texture, eye shape, or other
subjectively selected attributes”1

4

 A race is a category of people who have been
singled out as inferior or superior, on the
basis of real or alleged physical
characteristics such as skin color, hair
texture, eye shape, or other attributes.
 Race has little meaning biologically due to
interbreeding in the human population.
 Only 6% of DNA differences in humans can
be attributed to racial differences and thus
many social and natural scientists have
dismissed race as a category

5

 Monogenism (14th – 18th century) Racial
classification by origin
 Polygenism (18th – 19th century) – Focus on
inheritance of traits/hierarchy of races
 Evolutionism (late 19th century) – Races
evolved over time, explained the dominance of
Europeans
 Race as Class, Culture (19th cent.)- Race was
though to determine social standing and
culture
 Race as Ethnicity, Nation (19- 20th century) –
Racial mixing blurs fixed categories, race used
as a political strategy
6

Historical Conceptions of Race
Taken from Baron Cuvier‟s Natural History (1890)

7

 Itis generally agreed among sociologists
that race is socially constructed based
on the social realities, norms and group
experiences within society at a particular
time. (Remember the Thomas Theorem)

 Race became significant only after the
transatlantic economy emerges in the
1400‟s

8

John F. Kennedy Albert Einstein Rudy Guiliani Sonia Sotomayor
Irish Ancestry Jewish Ancestry Italian Ancestry Puerto Rican Ancestry

Who would you consider white? Why?

9

Dr. Michael O’Malley, professor
at George Mason University, had
an Irish great-grandfather and a
native Virginian great
grandmother . His grandfather
was listed as colored on their
wedding certificate.

10

 Unique cultural traits.
 A sense of community.
 A feeling of ethnocentrism.
 Ascribed membership from birth.
 Tendency to occupy a geographic area.

Example:
Irish Americans were historically united by a common faith
(Catholicism), lived in ethnic enclaves in cities like NYC
and Boston, preferred the folkways of Irish over the
WASP culture, and remained in Irish neighborhoods due
to discrimination.
11

A dominant group is one that is advantaged
and has superior resources and rights in a
society.
A subordinate group is one whose members
are disadvantaged and subjected to unequal
treatment by the dominant group and who
regard themselves as objects of collective
discrimination.
Why would sociologists use
dominant/subordinate rather than
majority/minority?
12

A negative attitude based on
generalizations about members of
selected racial, ethnic, or other groups.
• Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to
regard one‟s own culture and group as the
standard.
• Stereotypes are overgeneralizations about
the appearance, behavior, or other
characteristics of members of particular
categories.
 Racism-attitudes, beliefs, and
practices that justify the superior
treatment of one group
13

Term Definition Related Concepts

Racism Set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices
that is used to justify the treatment of
another racial or ethnic group.

Discrimination Actions or practices of dominant group Isolated vs.
members that have a harmful impact on Instituationalized
a subordinate group Indirect vs. Direct

Prejudice Negative attitude based on faulty Stereotypes
generalizations about members of Ethnocentrism
specific ethnic, racial, or other groups

14

 Frustration–aggression (scapegoat)
hypothesis
• People who are frustrated in their efforts to
achieve a highly desired goal will respond
with a pattern of aggression toward others.

 CULTURE OF PREJUDICE
• THE SOCIALIZATION EXPERIENCE
• IT’S “NORMAL” FOR PEOPLE TO PREJUDGE
OTHERS

15

Example of Indirect:
1937 Map of Philadelphia
developed by Homeowners Loan
Corporation, a New Deal effort to
salvage distressed properties

Sections of the city were given
grades according to their
properties and the racial
‘infiltrations’. The red and yellow
areas were predominantly
minority, while blue and green
were ‘safer’ areas for lending.

16

Jennifer Lee and Immigration

17

Previous racial categories included: 2010 Census, Race Section

1790:
Free white males
Free white females
All other free persons (included Native
Americans who paid taxes and free
blacks)
Slaves

1890: „Mulattos‟, Quadroons,
Octoroons, Chinese, Japanese,

20th century: “Hindu”, “South
Americans”

Census categories from other nations

18

The 2010 Census lumps diverse groups into
one race category:
• Hispanics may choose „White‟ as race or any other
(most choose white)
• Arabs are instructed to mark their race as white
• Beginning in 2000, people are allowed to choose a
„two or more races‟

19

 When asked to indentify racial groups in America, most
people will list White, African-American, Native
American, Asian, Latino/Hispanic, but there are other
groups/subgroups worth mentioning
 White Ethnics
• Non-British Europeans-Czechs, Poles, Italians, Irish, Russians, entered
the U.S. between 1880-1920
 WASPs
• White Anglo-Saxon Protestants-the upper class for most of US history
has been described as WASP, usually attend mainline churches,
members of country clubs, send children to elite prep schools

20

Subgroups of Whites

Cast of the Jersey Shore, which depicts the ‘guido’
lifestyle of young, Northeastern Italian-Americans

Do you think that white subgroups, like
WASPS or white ethnics still exist? Or
George H.W. Bush, a WASP
do they simply exist in popular media
prototype
depictions?
21

 Latino/Hispanic-The only ethnic group recognized by the Census, not a
race
 Hispanic refers to Spanish language (and thus excludes Brazilians
and Surinamese) while Latino includes people from Latin-speaking
countries

Javier Weyler Celia Cruz
(Argentinean) (Cuban)

22

Asians

The Census asks for
certain major
nationalities, but often
lumps Southeast Asians,
„Orientals‟, Indians, and
native of the Pacific
islands together

What „Asians‟ are not
included in this Census
category?

23

Overview of Theoretical Perspectives

26

 Contact theory - contact between
divergent groups should, in theory,
reduce racism
 Interactionists would study how people
define themselves along racial & ethnic
lines and how they perceive people of
other races
 Interactionists would also study the daily
encounters between people of different
races
27

How Does This Ad Exemplify the
Interactionist Perspective?

28

 Assimilation
A process by which members of subordinate
racial and ethnic groups become absorbed
into the dominant culture.
 Ethnic Pluralism
The coexistence of a variety of distinct racial
and ethnic groups within one society.
 Functionalists focus on unequal opportunities
and achievement of subordinate groups,
racism is merely a dysfunction (not an overt
set of obstacles)

29

 The Caste Perspective views racial and
ethnic inequality as a permanent feature
of U.S. society.

 Class perspectives emphasize the role
of the capitalist class in racial exploitation.
• William Julius Wilson‟s The Truly Disadvantaged
explain racism as limited life chances for inner
city blacks

30

 Internal Colonialism occurs when
members of a racial or ethnic group are
forcibly placed under the control of the
dominant group.

 SplitLabor Market - The division of the
economy into a primary sector composed
of higher paid workers in more secure jobs,
and a secondary sector of lower-paid
workers in jobs with little security.
31

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